Instagram brings search to its website

Start typing in a search term, and a drop-down menu gives you the option to choose between searching for hashtags, locations or users.

The update has been released worldwide.

“While Instagram.com is designed to be complementary to the mobile apps, it’s important to the global conversations that happen on Instagram“, said a company spokesperson.

The new feature can be found as a search bar at the top of the Instagram webpage. Previously you were only able to browse photos and see who liked them. The social network also ditched square-shaped profile photos in favour of more rounded ones, and it now emphasises larger images overall. Little by little, Instagram has made its own web presence more fluid, and useful, and today’s newest rollout add to that overall experience.

In 2013, Instagram moved from an app-only platform to a full-feed experience for web users.

Approximately 70 million pictures are reportedly being uploaded every month, but the lines are not drawn at just the average day user. This update is a welcome change as the website has remained pretty sparse since its launch in 2012, although admittedly any website was better than not having one at all as it was the case initially.

With news sites such as Facebook and Twitter, rapidly increasing their virtual footprint – specially on the web -Instagram, with its outdated website and user interface, looked to be in a bad position.